On Friday, Pakistan will take on the Netherlands in their ODI World Cup 2023 opening match in Hyderabad. Following a pre-mature Cricket Asia Cup exit and defeats in the two warm-up games, Pakistan definitely needs to raise their game to go deep in the ODI showpiece. Imam is expected to start against the Netherlands, but the team will need to choose between the destructive but out-of-form Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique, who don’t have the experience of world events. It will be interesting to see which side will prevail over the other.
Opening Match World Cup 2023:
Pakistan and Netherlands Squads
Pakistan: Babar Azam (C), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim.
Netherlands: Scott Edwards (C), Max O’Dowd, Bas de Leede, Vikram Singh, Teja Nidamanuru, Paul van Meekeren, Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Ryan Klein, Wesley Barresi, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shariz Ahmad, Sybrand Engelbrecht.
